Blog

Montag, 1. September 2014

Only 5 weeks and 4 days - or 39 days - and I'll be on my way back to the US! :D

So this post is about my attempt to register at VCU. . . I guess it's kinda obvious that it was a total mess.

So like, let's say a little less than two weeks ago I got the email that my internship is not super duper officially approved. Like, I got the signatures and everything. The guy who's been going through everything with me asked me to register then - I only had like 4 days because registration ended on August 27, so he asked me to do it relatively immediately. I tried, couldn't really find all the stuff online, so I emailed him again for help. Yikeeessss, weekend and I couldn't reach anybody, and then it was getting closer and there was no one who could help me and yeah. Soo the day before registration ended I decided to just email the administration office I mean, they should be able to help me. Turned out they didn't really know about my internship and everything about it (apparently it's kind of an unique thing), but they sent me the application to register as a non-degree seeking student. I was kiiinda stressed out because it was like 5 pages of application stuff plus I had to find my school transcript again and all that, but I actually filled it all out in like an hour, scanned it, sent it back.

After a few correspondences the news: Nele, you cannot attend college classes without a high school diploma.

Uhm ... wha? So I told them that I wasn't trying to enroll in classes or anything but that I'm gonna be an intern in a couple of weeks. Answer: Oh, we think this is the wrong adress for you then. You should check with ***.

Whaaaaayy, that was kinda frustrating after all the filling out and stuff, but I emailed a different administration office that was supposed to know better how to help me. Result was, that I should register as an Advances Scholar. (Those are the high school kids in the area who are so smart that they can enroll in one or two college classes while still in high school.) That meant, I had to fill out 3 more papers, write an essay on why I wanted to do it (yup, I wrote that essay) and I even needed a recommendation letter from my guidance counselor! Since we don't really have that in Germany I asked them for permission to ask my English teacher instead (yes, I emailed her in the middle of the night during summer break for a recommendation letter ... she even said she's gonna do it asap, really bless the Lord!) Oh, and they asked for my PSAT/ SAT score . . .yikes :D

So yes it took me one night to fill out all that stuff and I turned everything in on August 27. (Except for the letter and the test scores of course)

Turns out: nah, this isn't really working. They are figuring out something else for me now to get me in as a visitor since I'm not staying for the whole year. I was shocked I mean, the deadline to sign up for classes was that exact day. Thank God they said I'm not tied to any deadlines anymore and they are just going to keep me posted.

At the end of that day I was really just so relieved. Yes, I filled out a ton of unnecessary applications, ran around collecting signatures and all of that, but in the end it all worked out for the better. And I just have to say how lucky I am for being able to do this - the people at VCU are putting a whole lot of effort in this project and it's amazing. I haven't even been there yet, but I already think that I'll really really like it :)

Oh yeah, S' and Kiara started classes there only 2 weeks ago - Dep of Music of course :3 And they really love it so yeeeaaah I'm excited af!!!!!

Btw, as you might have noticed, I changed my blog a little. It's not "Destination USA - My year in VA 2012/2013" anymore - this blog hasn't only been about my exchange year for a while now. Now it's also about what came after it - it's me, trying to live my very own American Dream :)